College students these days are a bit older than you would expect

The common conception of a college student has changed over the years. There is a big chance you will see older students who are either parents or veterans compared to the 18 to 23-year-old who just left their parents home.

A think thank from Washington D.C. found this result from a study they conducted recently.
So what did they exactly find right? Well, over 50% of all college students have the classification of being “independent” as defined by the government.

The result is that over 50% of these independent students have at least some key metrics we need to take into account.

First of all, they are over 24 years old and secondly, they do have a family, meaning, spouse and children.
These definitely make them stand out from the classic model of a student as derived from our opinion or imagination.

What we once considered as normal for a typical student has changed over time.
Current economic situations and family demographics have made a degree necessary, meaning that people of all ages and with certain life or economic circumstances are progressively attending a college.

What does this mean for the schools?

They are experiencing a wider range of struggles and involvement with these students who want to enroll and even want to earn a certain degree at these schools.

It is generally assumed that these students are working, have a low income, are attending a school part-time and have a disproportionate financial situation than the younger students who just left high school.

It is also considered that these students will not graduate within 6 years.

Policymakers and management of this higher education need to do more to create an ideal situation to make this group of students succeed.

Some helpful benefits to think about are the Pell grant, which is an amount provided to low-income students who attend college, this makes quite easy to attend colleges.
Additionally, a funding for on-campus childcare will also help these college students to find a balance between work, parenting and attending college.

We need the dynamics of an adapting system which provides the opportunity for these students to cope with these triple responsibility. Something we didn’t know about a few decades ago.

Usually, federal policies aren’t adequate to take care of their needs.

I am a banker / Scrum Master with keen interest in cyber security, cloud and education. My intention is to inform students and readers about the latest news, training and education, jobs and salaries in the cyber security sphere.